


Custody

by ChelleyPam



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-14 22:03:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3427184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleyPam/pseuds/ChelleyPam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie saw a familiar face across the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Miles,_

_I know what happened between you and Rachel. And you were right. Charlie is yours. She always has been, and that's the only reason I'm willing to walk away now. I know you'll protect her._

_I forgive you for what you did, but I can't trust the man you've become. That's why we have to leave._

_Let her love you, Brother. She just might be what you need to save your soul._

_Your brother,_   
_Ben_

Miles crumpled up the letter in his hand. His eyes lifted up to the ceiling above him. From upstairs he could hear Charlie's voice as she called out for her parents. Called out for Danny.

“Sir?” He looked over to the soldier next to him.

“Spread out and search the woods. Man and wife and one boy, he should be about eight now. Ben, Rachel and Danny Matheson.”

The soldier nodded and hurried off to get relay the orders to the squad. Miles turned his attention back to the girl above and made his way up the stairs.

He found her in a room with two small beds. There were drawers that had been opened and rummaged through in a hurry. Rachel and Ben had rushed to pack only what they couldn't go without. All of Charlie's things were still there. Rachel must have rushed back home the moment she realized the girl had wandered off towards the soldiers. Must and hurried home to grab the rest of her family and run once it dawned on her that Charlie had recognized him when she saw him from a distance and had hurried to see her 'Uncle Miles'. 

Why couldn't she have been in town with Ben? Ben would have followed her. He would have walked right up to him and stood his ground. But, no, she'd been with Rachel. And Rachel had left her there in town and ran home to browbeat her husband into pulling up stakes and running, leaving Charlie behind. 

How had he ever loved that woman? How had he never seen what a cold blooded bitch she could be?

Damn it. He didn't want to tell Bass he'd been right. The man would be impossible to live with. 

_Charlie is yours. She always has been._

He'd asked Rachel about that. She'd lied to his face and insisted that Ben was Charlie's father. He didn't know when she'd come clean to his brother about the affair. Hell, Ben was as smart as she was. For all Miles knew he'd figured it out himself and Rachel had admitted the whole truth because it would be hard to lie to someone with that many brains. 

_You didn't tell me you were pregnant when I shipped out._

_It wasn't any of your business. She's not yours._

The lying bitch.

Charlie turned around and look up at him, her expression one of confusion. “They're not here.” She sounded afraid. Uncertain.

_Ben, you idiot. How could you let her talk you into running like this?_

Miles crouched down and held out his arms to her. “Come here, Peanut.” She half-stumbled into his arms and he pulled her close. “It's all right.”

“Where are they?”

Damn. What did he say? Did he tell her the ugly truth or did he soften it up so she didn't hurt so much? Life was hard, even more so in this post-apocalyptic setting than it had been before the lights went out. Still, Charlie was only ten. 

“They had to go. You're going to come live with me, now.”

Her brow creased. “But I have to take care of Danny.”

“Your mom is going to take care of Danny now.”

She looked less than convinced. “She doesn't know how to do it right.”

 _What did you do to my daughter, Rachel? Did you even let her be a kid?_ “You're mom's pretty smart. She'll manage.”

Charlotte still looked skeptical. “When are they coming back?”

“I don't know, Kid. But you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make sure that all my soldiers know to watch out for them, and when they find them, they'll make sure they find their way to us.”

“You have soldiers of your own?”

“I have a whole army of soldiers. I'm kind of important.”

Blue eyes looked at him with the kind of frankness that only the very young or the very powerful were allowed to possess. “Do you even know anything about kids?”

“Probably not as much as I should. Guess you'll have to teach me.” He looked around the room. “So, let's get you packed up. It's a long way to Philadelphia from here.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I hadn't really thought of doing anything more on this one, but I wanted to see what happened when they got home._

He knew she was having trouble understanding the truth. He'd told her, she had a right to know, but he could see the uncertainty in her eyes.

“What the fuck do I know about being a father?” He took a pull from his flask as he watched her from a distance. One of his men was introducing her to the horses they had with them.

“You want an answer to that, Sir?”

Miles glanced over to Neville. He didn't like the man, he was a major league asshole, but he had an uncanny ability to tell when people were lying to him and was brilliant at ferreting out information. “Sure.”

“No man knows how to be a father. It's something you learn. You'll make mistakes, we all do. The important thing is that you're man enough to step up and do the job. There are many who won't. Not because they can't, but because they're too chicken to do so.”

He grunted in reply. A courier had been sent ahead of them once they got within a day of Philly, giving Bass a heads up regarding what happened. At least one of them knew something about little girls. Bass may have bitched and moaned about his kid sisters when they were in high school, but he'd also doted on them. It had nearly killed them when they'd died.

“Break's over. Let's get moving.” He capped his flask and waked over to Charlie. She rode into the city with him, perched before him in the saddle, little hands holding the reigns just as he'd shown her. Her face was set in firm concentration.

_You're my daddy, now?_

_I always have been. Just...no one told me before now._

He swung down off the horse first, taking the reigns from her and handing them off to a private nearby before reaching up to lift her down. He noted the open curiosity as she took in the stately brick building. “You live here?”

“Yep. You do, too.”

“Why is it so big?”

His lips twitched in humor. “I'm not the only one who lives here.”

Blue eyes looked up at him. “Are you married?”

“No, but my friend Bass lives here, too. And the staff. We work from here, so people are always coming and going.” He gave a shrug. “It's big, but we use it all.”

He kept a hand on one delicate shoulder as he escorted her into Independence Hall. Guards were posted inside, standing tall and silent. The furnishing were antiques, large, solid and imposing. He'd always thought of them as stately before, but now, trying to look at them from a child's perspective, he supposed they were someone intimidating. The whole place looked like a museum setting in the kind of place you weren't allowed to touch anything. A bit severe for a little girl. 

A steel haired woman in a house uniform bustled down the hallway in her usual brisk manner. Helen Connery, the main housekeeper who ruled Independence Hall with an iron fist. They'd be existing on beans and salt pork if it weren't for her. She spied them and hurried forward, a warm smile that was out of place with her general appearance lighting her face. “General Matheson, it's good to have you home, Sir.” She was talking to him, but she wasn't looking at him. She only had eyes for Charlie. “And this must be Miss Charlotte. Welcome to Independence Hall, Sweetheart.”

Charlie looked back up to the woman. “Thank you, Ma'am.”

“Helen, I don't suppose you know where Monroe is.”

“Upstairs, Sir. The room across from yours.”

He thanked her and took Charlie to the second floor. The door to the room in question was open and he heard banging sounds coming from it. They came to the doorway to find the President of the Monroe Republic putting together a dresser. A newer one from the looks of it. It was more delicate in design and not nearly as oppressive as what used to be in here.

“Career change?”

Bass looked up, then set the old rubber mallet in his hands aside so he could wipe his hands clean. “Someone gave me less than a day's notice that he was arriving with a new family member. It took over an hour just to find a place to store the stuff that used to be in here and another three to find something more suitable.” 

He hadn't even thought about changing anything. He was just going to give her one of the bedrooms as is. Leave it to Bass to be smart enough to think that a young girl might be more comfortable with something not quite as grown up. “What would you have done if I'd given more notice? Leveled the building and built a castle from the ground up?”

“I wouldn't demolish a landmark like this. I would have put the castle somewhere else.” Bass gave Charlie that bright, winning smile of his and knelt down on one knee as he extended a hand to her. “Hello, Charlotte. It's nice to finally meet you.”

His ten-year-old daughter blushed, leaning into his leg as she shook Bass' hand and muttered a shy response. If he lived to be one hundred he'd never understand how the son of a bitch did that. He looked around the room, noting that the dark cherry poster bed had been changed for one that had been carved of a lighter wood and sanded smooth. It had a white canopy with bed curtains and enough pillows to grace every other bed in the house combined. The dresser Bass was assembling matched as did a new desk and chair with flanking book cases. The heavy brocade curtains had been taken down and replaced with blue ones and braided rugs made from cotton strips of various pastel colors had been brought in to grant respite from the cold wood floors. “It looks good, Bass.”

“It's a start. I figured Charlotte would like to pick anything else out herself. And we change anything you don't like. It's your room. You should put your own touch to it.”

“No, I like it.” She looked at the huge bed. “Is that really just for me?” Miles remembered the two small beds in the single room she'd shared with her brother . There had been space in the house for each child to have their own room, but they'd still shared. 

“Yep, it's all yours.”

“But where will Danny sleep when you find them?”

_But I have to take care of Danny._

Miles pushed the urge to growl down. “We'll figure something out when that happens. For now, this is all yours.”

“And your father and I are just across the hall.” Bass pointed to the door directly across from hers. “That's where Miles sleeps and my room is at the end. You ever need anything, we'll be right here for you.”

“That's right.” Miles ruffled her hair. “Right now why don't you get some rest. Helen will get a bath sent up for you later and we'll all sit down for a decent meal tonight. Me and Bass have work to do.”

“Let me finish the dresser, first. You can hold pieces while I hammer.”

Miles gave him a suspicious look. “You hit my hand with that hammer and I'll smack you upside the head with it.”

He saw Charlie put her hands on her hips and look at him sternly. “That's not nice, Dad.”

“Yeah, Dad. That's not nice.” Bass grinned impishly at him and Miles realized that giving his buddy a little kid to play with might not be the best thing for his personal sanity. Especially not a little girl. Bass had an uncanny way with anything female, and it looked like he'd already started working his charm on Charlie.

On the other hand, maybe Bass could keep him from screwing this up too badly. Together, Charlie may actually have a chance at growing up happy.


End file.
